


(Don't You Know We're) Better Off This Way

by Aud_Horne



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-31
Updated: 2014-08-31
Packaged: 2018-02-15 12:37:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2229252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aud_Horne/pseuds/Aud_Horne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You know you can touch me outside the bedroom, right?”</p><p>Oliver pushes his hood down and turns to look at her, one eyebrow raised.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(Don't You Know We're) Better Off This Way

“You know you can touch me outside the bedroom, right?”

Oliver pushes his hood down and turns to look at her, one eyebrow raised.

Felicity doesn’t even bother trying to comment about what just came out of her mouth. Clearly, alleviating her sexual frustration and the tension between them has done nothing to help the part of her brain that formulates sentences. Instead, she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath as she tries to find better words. “I mean _obviously_ , we’re keeping things quiet, but in here,” she gestures to their new lair ( _base_ , the Oliver and Diggle voices in her head correct her) around them, empty except for the two of them for now, “with people we trust, people who probably already _know_ since Dig picked _both of us_ up from my place this morning, I think we’re cool.”

A corner of Oliver’s mouth quirks up. He doesn’t say anything as he takes off his gloves and unzips his green leather jacket. “What I’m getting from this,” he says, walking toward her, looking almost amused, save for the predatory glint in his eyes, “is that you want me to… _touch you_ in here.” He curls his hands around her waist and pulls her body towards his. He tips his head down so his lips are brushing against her ear and murmurs, “I think that can be arranged.”

Any attempts to keep her composure against his words and the general lack of distance between them fall short as she shivers once, and then again when she feels more than hears him laugh quietly, a rush of hot breath against the shell of her ear and a low rumbling in his chest. It would be easy, _so_ easy, to tilt her head back so their eyes meet, and then capture his lips in a kiss that will probably lead to something more. But –

“I would like to exercise my right to minimum safety distance, please,” she squeaks, one hand adjusting her glasses as she lays the other on his chest. She doesn’t push him away (doesn’t really want to) but he takes it as a cue to take a step back. “Not far enough.”

He takes another step back. “Happy?”

She shakes her head and crosses her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes at him. “I said _minimum_ safety distance, Oliver, that’s six feet.”

“Oh I’m sorry,” he says, and his sarcasm, coupled with an eye roll would have offended her had it not been for the fondness overshadowing his tone. “I must have glossed over that part of our relationship constitution,” he backs up farther and leans against a column. “Is this enough or would you like me to grab a tape measure just to be sure?”

“No that’s fine,” she nods to herself, choosing to ignore his other comments for now. “What I’m trying to say, is that I think it would be okay if we told our friends about us. Unless of course you don’t want to, in which case I would respect your decision, provided you have a good enough reason. To be judged by me.”

“Is this another amendment in our constitution?” He says as he laughs, and a reaction like that would usually merit her loud voice but she can’t help but laugh with him, can’t bring herself to be mad, not when he looks like he does now. Not much different from how he usually is – devastatingly handsome, casual in a way that looks like he’s intentionally posing for GQ or whatever – but he’s laughing in a way that makes his eyes seem that much bluer, grinning so hard that Felicity is almost ready to abandon their conversation so she can press her smile into his.

“But seriously,” she says. “Seriously, they already know, and no one seems to have a problem with it, so you can stop being weird around me here when we’re not alone.”

He frowns at that. “Being weird?”

She sighs as she plops down on her chair. “Yeah, that thing where you go out of your way to avoid like, touching me,” she rolls her eyes at his raised eyebrow, “you know what I mean. You do the minimum safety distance thing whenever there’s somebody else here. Yesterday you had me project the traffic cam feeds on the screen so you wouldn’t have to look over my shoulder. It’s weird.”

“I was just trying to be…” he shrugs, “professional?”

“And that’s great when we’re at QC but,” she looks around pointedly, “this isn’t really a professional environment.” A thought occurs to her then, “if it were, we would all be in trouble for some form of sexual harassment, I’m sure." 

He doesn’t say anything, just blinks and tilts his head, waiting for her to continue.

“What? It’s true. Sara whistles every time Roy walks around shirtless, and I know she’s only doing because she thinks making him uncomfortable is funny, which it is, but when I attended that one sexual harassment seminar they said-“

“Felicity, your point?”

She shakes her head to clear her thoughts. “Right. Sorry.” She stands back up, wringing her hands and continues, “The point is, when we’re here, with the rest of the team, with our _friends_ , it’s okay if you want to… hold my hand, or sit next to me or like, look at me instead of wherever you’re looking to pretend you’re looking at me. Unless you don’t want to.”

He hums, “I _definitely_ want to,” he says as he starts to make his way closer to her again.

She takes a couple of steps back when she sees that _that_ look is back in his eyes. “Just to be clear, I am _not_ a fan overtly public displays of affection. I do _not_ mean we should start making out in front of everyone. Which is what is going to happen in about two minutes if you don’t stop where you are.”

He pauses and smirks at her. “So what you mean is, you find me irresistible?”

“Actually I was under the impression that you were, but the lack of modesty is kind of a turn-off, to be honest.”

“You mean this,” he gestures to his green leathers, “does nothing for you? How about if I put the hood back on?”

“No, don’t!” Someone yells from the top of the stairs. Roy’s thundering footsteps echo through the rest of the room as he runs down. “No, definitely not. Hood stays down and pants stay up!” He says as he rushes between the two of them, his red leather jacket thrown over his shoulder. “Aren’t you two over the rush of sneaking around or whatever it was you were trying to do? And if you aren’t, you’re not doing a very good job of it.” He shrugs at Felicity’s glare. “Hey, I’m just saying.”

She pointedly looks at Oliver who raises his hands in surrender. “Alright _yes_ we’re done sneaking around. Now if you’ll excuse me, I am going to shower and change and then,” He skirts past Roy to put his arm around Felicity. “I am going to take my _girlfriend_ home, and _hopefully_ ,” he turns his head toward her so that their eyes meet, “she lets me sleep over.” And with a kiss to her temple and a nod to Diggle, who looks far too amused for someone who has only caught the tail-end of the conversation, he walks away to do just that.

Felicity sits back down and turns to her computer screens in an attempt to hide the smile on her face.

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as a short drabble I thought of once upon a semi-drunken night, but it actually turned into one of the longest single-chapter fics I've ever written so far. I hope you liked it! I'm still taking prompts on [my tumblr](http://aud-horne.tumblr.com), btw! 
> 
> Next up will probably a short series of outtakes from System of Touch. I know I said it was over, but I do have a bunch of stuff that did not make it in (Sara and Felicity after the disastrous non-date, Roy, Dig and Sara's reaction to Oliver's initial plan, something with Thea) so I was thinking about cleaning them up and posting them, if anyone was interested? Let me know if you are!
> 
> Title from [Ponce de Leon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NB1BYFZfa0) by Butch Walker


End file.
